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AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS 
DUIILNG THE REVOLUTION. 



BY 



HAKRY A. GUSHING, 

OP COLOMBIA UNIVERSITY. 




(From the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1895, pages 105-113.) 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1896. 



^tb 3 1903 
D. of D, 



AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TOWiNS 
DURliNG THE REYOLUTlOiN. 



BY 



HARRY A. GUSHING, 

OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 



(From the A.nnual Report of the American Historical Association for 1895, pages 103-113.) 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

ISOG. 



POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE 
REVOLUTION. 



By Haiiry a. C'rsniNd. 



From the (\i\y of Samuel Adams's coup d'etat at the Salem 
courthouse to the inauguration of Governor Hancock in 1780 
the center of gravit}^ in the politics of Massachusetts w.as the 
town. Already for thirty years the town system had been the 
subject of an imi)ortant political contest; this, incidentally, 
had served to emjihasize the antitheses, both of theory and 
of interest, imposed upon Massachusetts with its provincial 
charter. Willing to allow the expansion of the town system 
merely for purposes of local administration, the home govern- 
ment with practical uniformity for three decades refused to 
allow a coincident extension of the rights of representation. 
The colonists thus were striving for what they considered the 
unquestioned right of every incorporated town, the right of 
independent reprevsentation in the general court. The long 
contest formed a significant prelude to the events of 1774, when 
still more critical i)roniinence was given to the town system by 
the action of Parliament. This, as is known, while abolishing 
the elective jury and radically altering the legislature, aimed 
as well at restricting the freedom and independence of town 
action. It was from these local bodies, thus threatened with 
liermanent subordination to the interests of the executive, that 
came upon practically every i^oint the earliest and most explicit 
reply. 

One of the statutes in question rendered the calling of all 
town meetings, except the annual meetings on stated dates, 
dependent upon the consent of the governor. By a technicality 
the necessity of asking such conseut was avoided; and soon 
the protection even of a technicality was scorned; soon could 
Samuel Adams read of "many town meetings which will all 
be called without asking his excellency's leave." Plainly and 
uniformly the towns sanctioned the blunt resolve "to pay no 
regard to the late act of Parliament, respecting the calling 

105 



M 



lOG AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 

town meetings, but to proceed in the usual way;" and refer- 
ring to tliese meetings Gage soon wrote to Lord Dartmoutli, 
that ''at a distance they go on as usual, but worse transactions 
make that of little consequence in the present moment." Thus 
passively did the executive countenance a situation Avhich he 
himself should have made impossible; thus did he uncon- 
sciously recognize as an accomplished fact the first step in the 
local revolution ; and the ill bodings which accompanied the 
useful prophecies of Gage were given indorsement unwittingly 
by the men of Massachusetts in the unusual freijuencyof town 
meetings during these months of August and September. 

Having secured the continuance of their existence as polit- 
ical, if not as constitutional, bodies, the towns proceeded fur- 
ther to neutralize the effect of the Parliamentary policy. In 
the reasoning and tradition of the colonists it was essential 
to civil liberty that the elective element in the jury system 
should be maintained inviolate; if that were to be remo-ved 
the whole judicial system must be destroj^ed with it; and the 
latter, in fact, resulted. For such result ample preparation 
had been made in the recent contest over the salaries of the 
judiciary and in the develoiimeut, by that and other events, of 
those ill-concealed antipathies which now were given definite 
expression. Uniform public opinion early secured almost an 
end of litigation; and while one element <>f the population 
made courts unnecessary another element made their work 
ineflective. Friends of Gage wrote: "The fences of law are 
broken down." A pamphlet of similar partisanship stated: 
" So strangely have we been infatuated we have resumed the 
power into our own hands, and every man is become a judge 
and a ruler among us. The whole system of government is 
overturned, and all order and subordination lost." Quite so, 
indeed, it was; even constables refused to recognize those 
sheriffs who tried to act in accordan<;e with the new statutes; 
then was seen the force of George Cabot's remarks that "All 
governments rest on opinion. Free governments, especially, 
depend on i^opular opinion for their existence, and on popular 
approbation for their force * * *." 

No organs existed for the expression of this "popular 
opinion" and "popular approbation" except the town meetings 
and those groups of town representatives termed county con- 
ventions. By such now the needs of the situation were stated 
and the programme of action was dictated, as when, in Wor- 



MASSxVCHUSETTS TOWNS DURING TflE REVOLUTION. 107 

cester. it was "voted, as tlio opiiiiou of tliis convention, that 
tlie court should not sit on any terms." Simihir votes' were in 
many places, as indeed in Worcester, followed by vigorous 
and unwarranted expressions of the popuhir sentiment; the 
deliberation of the town meeting' was made tangible by the 
action of the mob; and in an unfortunate manner it was made 
certain that the end of royal courts was near. Significant!^', 
in this connection, did tiie Essex Journal say that the votes 
of the delegates of a few towns had "all the good effect on the 
minds of the people" that legislative acts could have; and 
truly had Thomas Young written, even in the middle of 
Augnst: "The whole current of Mr. Gage's administration 
seems to have its course uphill." The situation was concisely 
stated when "Amicus," in the first week in September, wrote 
to Samuel Adams: "The judges have informed the governor 
that the execution of their office is at an end." 

Likewise, on the initiative of the towns, was the contest with 
Parliament begun upon a third point, the substitution of a 
council appointed by the King for a council elected by the 
general court. Here, more plainly even than on the preceding 
question, is developed a contest over the relative validity of a 
statuteof Parliament and a charterof government. On the one 
hand was the authority of the King in Parliament; on the other 
was the nature of the colonial charter, defined on the one side 
as by Leicester when the town declared that "the basis of the 
civil constitution of government in this Province" was " sacred, 
and that no power on earth whatsoever hath right or authority 
to disannul or revoke said charter or any part of it, or abridge 
the inhabitants of the Province of any of the powers, privileges, 
or immunities therein stipulated or agreed to be liolden by 
every person inhabiting said Province;" tangibly the contest 
was one of official legitimacy between the council elected in 
May, in accordance with the charter of 1691, and the mandamus 
council appointed by the King. This new creation of royalty 
was to be accorded no recognition, and its destruction became 
the object of the party of "movement." 

Thus, the town of Worcester instructed its representative to 
be sworn only by those whom they termed "constitutional offi- 
cers," and, more particularly, "That everyone of those incorri- 
gible enemies to this country who have lately been appointed 
by mandamus from His Majesty as councilors, and have accepted 
a seat at the council board of this Province, and shall not resign 



108 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 

their said office before tlie second Tuesday of this instant, be 
impeached as traitors to the constitution of this Province, and 
that they be taken into custody and secured for trial." FoHow- 
ing the same line of theory, no obedience was to be rendered 
to anyone taking the oaths as recently prescribed. All ques- 
tions of legality were to be determined, and all jiroblems of 
action were to be solved, solely with reference to the mainte- 
nance of the charter and of the institutions therein estab- 
lishe<l. Here, again, the will of the towns was accomplished 
in an unfortunate manner. In June, Lord Dartmouth had 
written to Gage: "There is little room to hope that every one 
of the persons whom Ilis Majesty has appointed to be of his 
council will be induced to accept tliat honor, for tliere can be 
no doubt that every art will be practiced to intimidate and 
prejudice." Tiie official i)rophecy was true; but even thus 
warned Gage showed no greater command of the situation 
than did any of the royal executives. By threat and force, 
so many resignations were secured that the council became a 
nullity ; Gage had no authority to fill vacancies ; and on another 
l)oint the towns attained their end. 

The attainment of their end in this instance, however, 
involved much more. Elections for a new house were in i)rog- 
ress; Gage could not consistently act with the May council; a 
complete general court was an impossibility, and the gathering 
of the warring claimants to membership therein could only 
])recipitate a contest. Such probability was increased hj the 
instructions given by the towns to their representatives, The 
governor by i)roclamation annulled the writs of election. On 
a question of phraseology, the colonists denied his right to 
do this. They had already nmpped out clearly the course for 
the coming weeks; tliey consciously anticipated a break with 
the executive, and they made definite provision for such a 
crisis. Their representatives were, with remarkable uniforui- 
ity, instructed to meet, and if necessity and occasion directed, 
to resolve themselves into a provincial congress, and thus put 
themselves in a position, as was later said, "to organize the 
revolution." 

Such was the course of action; and by its completion a new 
phase of development appears. The governoi-'s authority now 
embraced little more than Boston; the royal treasurer soon 
failed to receive payments or recognition from the towns; by 
the towns had been brought about the end of the royal legis- 



MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE REVOLUTION. 109 

lature; at tbeir instance the royal courts liad been abolished; 
and it is significant that in this general collapse the town sys- 
tem, and that alone, had maintained an existence and an 
activity that were practically continuous. By this element the 
government of the King had been destroyed; by it the recon- 
struction was to be effected. 

During the strictly provisional administration the Provin- 
cial Congress, by voluntary dissolutions, thrice recognized that 
the ultimate source of power was in the towns; the acts of the 
snccessive congresses make it evident that they considered 
the sphere of town action neither slight nor of accidental 
origin. The continued existence of the towns and of town 
rights is shown in the resumption of the charter of 1G91; and 
the general court, acting under that '' resumed" charter, many 
times, both distinctly and by implication, reaffirms the sov- 
ereign position of the people acting in town meetings. 

The renewed use of the charter was understood to be pro- 
visional, and the five years before its abandonment were tilled 
with activity relative to constituent matters. Even at the close 
of 1775 town action is seen directed toward a reconstruction ; 
such steps are repeated in the next year, and the general court 
recognizes that the people acting in town meetings are the 
possessors of constituent powers. Twice they are asked to 
delegate the exercise of such powers to the general court; the 
second appeal succeeds, but only on the plainly and repeatedly 
demanded condition that the work of the constituent body 
should be submitted to the towns for approval or rejection. 
In this case a rejection follows, but the grounds of objection 
are such as to be readily avoided. Then, on similar conditions 
recognizing the towns as possessors of a power of final sanc- 
tion, provision is made for conferring constituent powers upon 
a special convention called for an explicit puri)ose and with 
strictly defined i)owers. The constitution, thus formed by what 
was then known as the Massachusetts method, was ratified by 
more than two-thirds of those voting in the town meetings, 
and thus sanctiojied was iiromulgated as the constitution of 
the Commonwealth. The establishment of a newly organized 
Commonwealth was in 1780 etfected by the towns which six 
years before had destroyed the lioyal (iovernmeut. 

The activity of the towns in 1778 and 1780, even more than 
in 1774, included much niore than mere routine. The submis- 
sion of constitutions in the two later years offered occasions 



110 AMERICAN ^HISTOKKJAL ASSOCIATION, 

widely seized. The political philosophy of the time was fully 
recorded. On the location of sovereignty, on the suffrage, on 
the triple division of government, on the bicameral legislature, 
there were many distinct expressions. On the basis of repre- 
sentation there was a multitude of mathematical arrangements; 
on the size of the legislature mimerous opinions were offered; 
on the relation of civil to ecclesiastical affairs there was a con- 
test well-nigh bitter. In fact, upon almost every point of prac- 
tical politics or political theory there appeared some opinion or 
suggestion. Yet the very variety entails confusion, and the 
many different combinations of various views in the several 
localities, while attesting the vigor and intelligence of political 
activity in Massachusetts, render (juite futile any attemi)t at 
a classification of views on any basis that will prove useful or 
permanent. 

Nevertheless, one type of expression is to be noted as of 
especial significance when viewed in connection with the posi- 
tion of the towns during the transitional period. In practice 
we have seen indicated the vital continuance of local organ- 
isms and of local rights; in theory, there appears a firm and 
repeated assertion of the inviolate character of such rights. 
The position taken by the towns in the six years of transition 
is emphasized by their own recognition and reiteration of their 
so-called natural rights. Such expression is seen in the demand 
for independence of local action, and even more strikingly in 
the vigorous maintenance of the theoiy that each incorporated 
town, by virtue of such incorporation, possesses, regardless 
of any external power, ai right of representation. Still more 
numerous are the demands for the recognition of the towns as 
administrative units by granting to each a legistry of deeds; 
the same tendency to assert the importance of the towns is 
indicated further by the many demands for a probate court in 
each. We find, as well, single towns refusing to be bound 
even by a county convention ; while it is no uncommon thought 
that the qualifications of representatives should be determined 
by the towns themselves. Further illustration njight be drawn 
from the various arguments of the time; thus on the religious 
question one party is strenuous in upholding the competency 
of the town to control all matters of religion. The extreme 
position is seen in those few towns which establish local courts 
of justice with appeals only to the town meeting; and the radi- 
cal position is exploited when a town threatens that unless its 



MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE REVOLUTION. Ill 

demands are granted it will declare its independence of the 
State. 

In the action of the towns thronghont the period in review 
no nndercnrrent of thought is more prominent than the one 
outlined. Then, as earlier, the chief care of the towns was to 
secure the utmost scope and freedom to local action. Local 
rights receive a vigorous theoretical nmintenance similar to 
that which in practice they had been given for the preceding 
six years. Fact and theory coincide, and the coincidence is 
more than superficial. 

The line of thought and action upon which some stress has 
been laid can serve as a basis of classification of those elements 
of the revolution which may be termed purely local or provin- 
cial. Such classification will be based ou the relative infiu- 
ence, activity, and effectiveness on the one hand of the central 
revolutionary body in each colony, and on the other hand of 
the remnants of the earlier and strictly local administrative 
organizations in each. Briefly, there will appear two types of 
transitional movement; in one the effective activity of local 
organisms will be at a minimum and that of the central rev- 
olutionary body will be at a maxinnim; in the other type 
the central revolutionary body in each colony will, in all 
its course, be strictly and consciously subordinated to the 
strongly asserted rights of the local political bodies. 

As examples of one type I would name Massachusetts and 
what was then considered that Commonwealth's political imita- 
tor, the neighboring New Hami)shire, together with Khode 
Island and Connecticut. A qualification in regard to the last 
two may seem essential. The fact that they possessed an elec- 
tive governor rendered their general assemblies able to perform 
the functions elsewhere assumed by revolutionaiy bodies; and 
yet even in such procedure and in the unbroken use of their 
charters clear recognition was given to the position and author- 
ity of the towns. If digression were possible, it might be shown 
that these were strong, if not even extreme, examples of the 
type; and in this connection it may be recalled simply that in 
these two colonies, and in these alone, the representatives were 
chosen by the towns every six months. 

The second type has as examples the remaining colonies, 
illustrating in various degrees the negation of local rights and 
authority and the accumulation, in a central revolutionary 
body, of practically unlimited jjowers. To characterize the 



112 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 

• 

distinction more tangibly, let us consider the normal develop- 
ment of revolntiouary ijrocedure in the latter type. We find 
outside of New England similar processes with variations of 
detail so slight as to render a single case representative of all. 
The position of Boston in the early summer of 1774 is in all 
the immediate occasion for definite expression. Such expres- 
sion may be made by towns, counties, or districts, but none 
such can represent a body of any intercolonial standing. The 
various steps in the creation of such a provincial representa- 
tion are not pertinent to our present purpose, except in so 
far as the local organisms are frequently disregarded in an 
emphatic manner. By the Piovincial Congress once organ- 
ized is begun the gradual assumption of ])Owers, culminating 
often in the exercise of those of a constituent body. Suprem- 
acy in legislation, in administration, in executive matters, and 
in judicial affairs is recognized by the controlling elements 
of the population as vested in this Congress; the remainder of 
the population, whether mathematically a majority or not, are 
perforce silent. 

In a people of such high political intelligence few cases in 
histoiy can be found of a single revolutionary body exercising 
such arbitrary and even despotic power and such wide authority 
as was commonly assumed by the Provincial Congress of the 
American Eevolution. From granting audience to a saddler 
and subsidizing a powder factory, to action on a death sentence 
and the imposition of a constitution of government, their con- 
duct was marked with equal facility and self-confidence, and 
was accorded uniform recognition and support. Their action 
was final and supreme; in the exercise of constituent i)owers, 
no voice even of formal sanction, far less one of approval or 
rejection, was granted to the people. The only connection of 
the people with provincial affairs appeared in rarely conferring 
special powers upon the convention, or in an infrequent reelec- 
tion of that body; and even in such cases the course of action 
seems to have resulted from the convention's regard for expe- 
diency rather tluin from any recognition b^' them of rights 
vested in their nominal constituencies. Local activity and 
authority were at the lowest ebb. 

The opposite type has already been develoj)ed in the treat- 
ment of Massachusetts, the most important as well as the best 
example of the class. The fact that the colonies of one type 
occupy the territory of the New England town system is sug 



MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE REVOLUTION. 113 

gestive to tbe political philosopher aud the historian of the 
towu; elaboration upou any thesis in that connection is here 
impossible, as is also any more detailed development of the 
distinction, which it is the purpose of this paper merely to 
suggest. At all events, the suggestion is tenable that along 
the lines of characterization indicated may be traced two dis- 
tinct phases of our revolutionary i)rocedure and revolutionary 
theory. 

H. Doc-. 291 8 



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